MTG Salvation

So I'm building a holiday deck, and I'd like to refine it a bit before ordering my cards. I don't have Bog Humbugs in the list, because I couldn't find one for sale (I've ordered all the other holiday promos), but I do want the promos I have to stay in the list. It turned out token-heavy, so that I can ensure I have stuff to spend Mishra's Toy Workshop mana on, and some of the creature choices (like Atraxa, Darigaaz, Yennett, and Zacama) were to give better sacrifice choices for Some Disassembly Required.

Looking for any suggestions for substitutions to help the deck be not total rubbish. No particular budget, but it's intended more as a theme deck than a powerful one. It's just that a deck the sucks and dies every game is also no fun to play.

I would add more to the holiday theme and also spice it up with some combos. Although you're in last year's rules for silver-bordered cards, running a planeswalker commander that doesn't have the clause plus running Stocking Tiger when it has a wish effect might need to be cleared in your playgroup. But I love these kinds of decks so I'll help you out. Buying all the holiday promos is the epitome of pimp so the deck should at least win as much as it sparkles, right?

• Keeping to the snow theme, you could add Dark Depths, which is a snow land (and tutorable with Into the North). Additionally, you could pay the 3 with Mishra's Toy Workshop, which gives you something to do with the mana from that land if nothing else is available. So if you don't want to include Thespian's Stage to just get an immediate Marit Lage, you can at least just Mishra's Toy Workshop. (I would still recommend putting Thespian's Stage in there to get some wincon if all else - Marit Lage could be Krampus .)
• Add Phage the Untouchable. Evil Presents + Phage the Untouchable eliminates a player on the spot. I love that combo.
• If you want to abuse your Happy Holidays promos, I would add more cards to make it work. Some Disassembly Required is not only epic with Atraxa, Praetors' Voice but with both Akromas, Spirit of the Night, and Sphinx of the Steel Wind, too (adding Earl of Squirrel in order to give a huge creature squirrellink would be epic - although you could simply add it because that card is amazing in and of itself (plus it's cheaper with Mishra's Toy Workshop)). On top of that, I would add Odric, Lunarch Marshal as a second way to have a similar effect.
• With all the tokens, I would add more token doublers and ways to make the tokens more dangerous. Divine Visitation makes chumpy 1/1 soldiers, etc. into 4/4 flying angels. Similarly, I would also add Brudicald, Telchior Engineer to make all tokens into the best of them all. This to add consistency. Additionally, these cards could all be cast with the mana from Mishra's Toy Workshop. Given all the different cards in EDH, it would be possible to obtain a ridiculous amount of tokens for just 2GG if you include Symbol Status. But, since you're running snow basics instead of normal basics (giving the possibility of increasing the variety of expansion symbols), you won't be able to abuse it as much. Even so, there're many different cards (not counting the Happy Holidays promos so if you have different versions of cards in such a way to take maximum advantage of the expansion symbols, Symbol Status becomes a truly broken token creation spell - especially in the late game.
• With all the targeted spells (removal and copy) I would add Ink-Treader Nephilim. Casting a copy spell on it will create for you a copy of each creature on the battlefield. If an opponent uses this ability against you, you can simply sacrifice it to avoid that problem. In case of emergency, you could also target it with Crib Swap or Beast Within. Or, you can just add Zada, Hedron Grinder just for your own creatures and copy spells.
• There are also better ramp choices and tokens choices than the ones you have, so maybe the swaps for more efficient things will make the deck more efficient. Along the vein of efficiency, you don't have many answers against opponents' things. Maybe add a Cyclonic Rift or something along those lines. Since you're in silver-bordered, you could add Uktabi Kong, which would also receive the bonus from Mishra's Toy Workshop and it destroys all artifacts. Also, along the same vein as Mishra's Toy Workshop, you could include Super Secret Tech. All Happy Holidays promos are shiny so they'll cost less and the creatures will get a buff (as will Atraxa, Praetors' Voice). Additionally, if you pimp out the rest of your deck, then you can get the bonus of it.

Here're the changes I suggest you do based on all my thoughts on your list:

Good luck! And hopefully you acquire Bog Humbug. If you manage to build this deck, please take pictures of it; it'll no doubt look as glorious as Xmas Morning!

Quote from DementedKirby »

Keeping to the snow theme, you could add Dark Depths, which is a snow land (and tutorable with Into the North). Additionally, you could pay the 3 with Mishra's Toy Workshop, which gives you something to do with the mana from that land if nothing else is available.

Can't activate Dark Depths with Toy Workshop. The activated ability does not produce tokens.

Quote from DementedKirby »

Add Phage the Untouchable. Evil Presents + Phage the Untouchable eliminates a player on the spot. I love that combo.

That's evil.

Quote from DementedKirby »

If you want to abuse your Happy Holidays promos, I would add more cards to make it work. Some Disassembly Required is not only epic with Atraxa, Praetors' Voice but with both Akromas, Spirit of the Night, and Sphinx of the Steel Wind, too (adding Earl of Squirrel in order to give a huge creature squirrellink would be epic - although you could simply add it because that card is amazing in and of itself (plus it's cheaper with Mishra's Toy Workshop)). On top of that, I would add Odric, Lunarch Marshal as a second way to have a similar effect.

I considered adding more keyword-heavy creatures for Disassembly, but was already having trouble figuring out what cards to cut D:

And you can't cast Earl of Squirrel with Toy Workshop, for the same reason you can't activate Dark Depths with it.

Quote from DementedKirby »

With all the tokens, I would add more token doublers and ways to make the tokens more dangerous. Divine Visitation makes chumpy 1/1 soldiers, etc. into 4/4 flying angels. Similarly, I would also add Brudicald, Telchior Engineer to make all tokens into the best of them all. This to add consistency. Additionally, these cards could all be cast with the mana from Mishra's Toy Workshop. Given all the different cards in EDH, it would be possible to obtain a ridiculous amount of tokens for just 2GG if you include Symbol Status. But, since you're running snow basics instead of normal basics (giving the possibility of increasing the variety of expansion symbols), you won't be able to abuse it as much. Even so, there're many different cards (not counting the Happy Holidays promos so if you have different versions of cards in such a way to take maximum advantage of the expansion symbols, Symbol Status becomes a truly broken token creation spell - especially in the late game.

I did have Anointed Procession and Parallel Lives in the list earlier, but I had to make cuts somewhere. I kept Doubling Season because it also doubles Urza's loyalty when I cast him. Brudiclad seems like an interesting choice with my token copies of nontoken creatures, however Brudiclad and token doublers (outside Parallel Evolution, which was in the list until I cut it for space) can't be cast on Toy Workshop mana.

Quote from DementedKirby »

With all the targeted spells (removal and copy) I would add Ink-Treader Nephilim. Casting a copy spell on it will create for you a copy of each creature on the battlefield. If an opponent uses this ability against you, you can simply sacrifice it to avoid that problem. In case of emergency, you could also target it with Crib Swap or Beast Within. Or, you can just add Zada, Hedron Grinder just for your own creatures and copy spells.

Sacrificing Ink-Treader in response to an opponent's spell won't stop the spell from being copied. It's an intriguing idea, though.

Quote from DementedKirby »

There are also better ramp choices and tokens choices than the ones you have, so maybe the swaps for more efficient things will make the deck more efficient. Along the vein of efficiency, you don't have many answers against opponents' things. Maybe add a Cyclonic Rift or something along those lines. Since you're in silver-bordered, you could add Uktabi Kong, which would also receive the bonus from Mishra's Toy Workshop and it destroys all artifacts. Also, along the same vein as Mishra's Toy Workshop, you could include Super Secret Tech. All Happy Holidays promos are shiny so they'll cost less and the creatures will get a buff (as will Atraxa, Praetors' Voice). Additionally, if you pimp out the rest of your deck, then you can get the bonus of it.

Uktabi Kong can't be cast on Toy Workshop mana. Super Secret Tech might be a fun include, though!

Damn, all those lost interactions to Mishra's Toy Workshop... I'd still add most of those cards though, considering. Brudiclad is some sweet tech if you copy one of your better creatures because then all your derps become brutal. Just imagine creating a copy of Stocking Tiger and then have Brudiclad transform all your 1/1's into Stocking Tiger. You know how many Ultimate Masters boosters you'll be able to crack and fill your hand with? That's some Sparta level madness right there.

Ink-Treader Nephilim might make you shoot yourself in the foot but you could add Zada, Hedron Grinder in its place. Trust me, I run a Zada deck and making a copy of each of your creatures is no joke. You're literally duplicating your army. Also, if you do manage to increase the variation in expansion symbols, consider adding Symbol Status. Mishra's Toy Workshop does pay for that and it can make a crazy amount of tokens for 4 mana. And if you have Divine Visitation they'll be 4/4 flying angels instead.

The creatures with all those keywords are great regardless if you have to wait a while to cast them or not (which shouldn't be too much of an issue with all your ramping / rocks). Even if you manage to get one in play and have Odric, Lunarch Marshal on the battlefield things can get out of hand very quickly.

Also, even with the epicness of some of my suggestions, it's still janky enough to keep the spirit of the casualness of the deck, yet when pulled off it can make your deck a force to be reckoned with in a casual setting. You're still sticking to flavor and your holiday restrictions. And apart from some choice cards, you'll be able to bling out the entire deck. Now that's some silver tassels right there. You could only ever really be tutoring for the lands to make Marit Lage, but all else would be serendipitous. If you do manage to take out somebody with Phage + Evil Presents that'll be so glorious!

If you want to test your deck, I also have lots of janky decks as well as decks with silver-bordered cards in them (the ones that were legal last year - so no cards that even the RC wouldn't allow). So just seek me out on Cockatrice, which is where I do most of my decktesting myself. My user name is the same as here.

Made some edits based on DementedKirby's feedback (and some offline friends). In particular, I've added a couple extra land tutors that can find Mishra's Toy Workshop, and a few Spirit Link triggers, because putting those on Fruitcake Elemental is hilarious.

With the inclusion of Super Secret Tech, I've removed Arachnogenesis, Entrapment Maneuver, Mirror Match, and Teferi's Protection, as they have no foil printing.

Quote from Lithl »

Made some edits based on DementedKirby's feedback (and some offline friends). In particular, I've added a couple extra land tutors that can find Mishra's Toy Workshop, and a few Spirit Link triggers, because putting those on Fruitcake Elemental is hilarious.

With the inclusion of Super Secret Tech, I've removed Arachnogenesis, Entrapment Maneuver, Mirror Match, and Teferi's Protection, as they have no foil printing.

Nice! Can't wait to see what changes you've made.

Have you been able to test it out or are you still waiting to get the cards?